A disgraced senior Vietnamese Communist Party cadre appeared in the High Court yesterday, fighting for refugee status in Hong Kong.
Unlike many Vietnamese fighting repatriation because they had 'collaborated' with the Americans, Hoang Tai Hung and his wife, Dang Ngoc Kieu, had been longstanding party members.
Hung was 'a Communist Party cadre who rose to a position of power' while Kieu was a full party member, the court was told.
But the High Island detention camp inmates claim they were forced to flee to Hong Kong after clashing with the communist Government.
Hopes of freedom were shattered in 1994, when their application for refugee status in Hong Kong was denied.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Brian Keith allowed them to apply for a judicial review to fight the decision to send them back to Vietnam.
